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THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING. ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS GENERAL CONFERENCE. Seriously nothing gets better than sitting in church for 12 hours watching God’s servants telling us what to do. I absolutely LOVED General Conference this time around. I especially loved how much of a comic President Uchtdorf was! I’m convinced that the ‘celestial language’ he was talking about is Mandarin Chinese!

MIRACLE: ZHANG HONG ZHI PASSED HIS BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW! We were SO worried because he has been having a really hard time quitting smoking. But I put my faith in the Lord that he would help Brother Zhang be baptized on April 16th. I didn’t just believe that He could make it happen, but I believed the He WOULD make it happen. If sending him daily reminders to not smoke and fasting and praying that he would overcome this temptation wouldn’t be enough, I knew that obedience would. I knew that what it states in Doctrine and Covenants 130 is true:

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

Blessings ONLY come through obedience. And that is a FACT!

Funny story of the week: Sister Davis and I were doing opening exercises for comp study one morning, and we recited “Remember This” from the very back cover of Preach My Gospel. The very last thing it says it “Love the Lord the very best you can.” And since we do it every morning, it gets really old (not the loving the Lord part, but the reciting it repeatedly part). So I like to throw in some fun accents as we read from the White Handbook and state Our Purpose. After we were done, I said “My Lord” the way that Bellatrix Lestrange said it in the 7th Harry Potter movie, when she was referring it to Lord Voldemort. We both started laughing then Sister Davis says “NO! You’re not supposed to say it like that, because Lord Voldemort thinks he is the Lord, when the Lord is really Jesus Christ!” I died laughing that morning.

I love Sister Davis so much. I can’t even tell you HOW DIFFERENT we are. As in like WHITE BLACK different. But we totally work, and we get along SO well. I think one of my favorite things about Sister Davis is when she prays, she has the biggest smile. When she talks to her Heavenly Father, she smiles out from ear to ear. Sometimes I like to crack my eyes open and look at her when she prays. It is the cutest thing!

Sister Davis and I went to Yong He for exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders this week. It was so fun getting to work with Sister Meyers. For personal study, she asked me to study how to truly “feast upon the words of Christ.” I was thinking to how I’ve been studying the scriptures recently, and I have been spending a lot of time on each verse of scripture by studying the footnotes that come with the scripture. I went back in 2 Nephi 32 and read verse 3:

Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

I love the wording “feast upon the words of Christ”, and how it encourages us to really take time and STUDY the meaning of scriptures. Feast doesn’t mean to just ‘read’ but it means to FEAST. I noticed there was a footnote under the word “feast”. That took me to 2 Nephi 31:13:

13. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

This is what feasting really means. If you only read and study the scriptures, all you are doing is licking the food the Heavenly Father has provided you. He expects us to not only taste it, but to devour it! We feast when we read, then study, then LIVE the scriptures. We are to take upon ourselves the name of Christ. Then are we able to FULLY comprehend the blessings that Heavenly Father has for us, then are our heart able to be FULL.

I testify that as we are obedient to God’s commandments, we are able to receive indescribable blessings. And I know that as we TRULY FEAST upon the words of Christ by LIVING the words of Christ are we able to understand these indescribable blessings. I know that God loves us, and I know that the celestial language is Mandarin Chinese 😉

Love,

Sister Good

—

顧姐妹

P.S. SEE Y’ALL NEXT WEEK!

We hiked Xiang Shan last week! AND LOOK WHO CAME WITH US! JENSEN!

Elder Reintjes told me that his mom googled him last week and found him in my blog, so here’s a shout out to Elder Reintjes’s mama!

We had so many miracles this week! First miracle: we were able to hit ALL of our Key Indicator goals! We had 4 investigators at sacrament, 8 peikes (陪課) (lessons to investigators taught with a member present), 5 new investigators through missionary finding efforts, and 3 New investigators through a member referral, it was just fantastic! President Jergensen has been making a point about finding through members. It’s not an easy key indicator to hit, but Sister Davis and I have been blessed every week and we have been able to find them! It’s amazing how the ward members are to excited about missionary work, THEY even read Preach My Gospel! I seriously LOVE the Tucheng 土城 ward. They really understand the point of us missionaries. We are actually here to help THEM in their missionary efforts. Not the other way around. And they understand that! If only EVERY member of EVERY ward understood that, then the amount of baptisms would skyrocket!

This new investigator family we are teaching…I LOVE THEM. They were actually a member referral. The Dad, Brother Wu, is a Less Active of about 10 years or so, and he wants his kids to learn about the gospel. We met with them Saturday. He is a wife and 3 boys, the oldest of which has down syndrome AND IS SO CUTE. When we extended the invitation to baptism, the 2nd son, David immediately said “YES”, then the mom accepted, then the youngest, Ben accepted as well. Brother Wu asked if his oldest son could get baptized, but then we explained kids with special circumstances don’t have to be baptized, just like how little kids under 8 don’t need to. Then Sister Wu said: “See? I’ve always known he was an angel!” It was awesome! We are going to their house for dinner next Sunday!

We are keeping busy, so busy to the point we have to go on splits with the members in order to get all of our lessons in. I am so afraid of being lazy my last transfer, so I went ahead and made sure we are BUSY BUSY BUSY. And we are! And life is soooo good!!

Love y’all!

—

顧姐妹

All of the maps on the subways in Taiwan have our church on it if there is one close to the station! I love it!

I took Sister Davis to Taipei 101 last P-Day!

THEN WE WENT TO TEXAS ROADHOUSE!!

I WENT HOME BEFORE I WENT HOME!

We also found a ‘Minions’ store!

We had the yummiest qingke (請客) at an All-You-Can-Eat BBQ place!

A member from the Wanda (萬大) Ward came to visit me Wednesday! Do y’all remember Jensen? HE IS THE BEST.

Sister Davis and I went and had Vietnamese pho…YUM.

Sister Davis’ family sent her a package and there were Twinkies in them! I haven’t had twinkies since like elementary school because Mom would never buy them for us haha!

This week was soooo COLD and RAINY and WET. It rained every single day this week, and we still had to be out and proselyting. IT WAS AWESOME! We saw so many cool miracles and met so many cool people! Recently, the mission has really been emphasizing finding New Investigators through members. It’s an extremely effective way in finding new investigators that already have a support system (their friends or family). We have been working really hard and gaining the trust of the members, so that they are willing to give us referrals. This week, we visited the Lai Family. They have a son in high school and he has a girlfriend who has never really hard much about God, other than what her boyfriend shares with her. I asked Sister Lai what we should teach her son’s GF, trying to get a feel of how much she knows about our church. I laughed when she said “Probably…eternal marriage!” But we decided to take thigs a bit slower haha. We taught her yesterday and introduced the concept of a Heavenly Father, and we showed the video “Earthly Father, Heavenly Father” with her. We set a baptismal date with her, and her boyfriend was so happy! Everyone was super happy! Yang Yi Lu (the girlfriend) is so sweet and so cute! I asked her why she was willing to set a date, and I was so amazed at her response: “Because, I’m starting to believe that it’s true.” I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!

Two other miracles…Zhang Hong Zhi is still progressing! We have been sending him texts to remind him when he pulls out a cigarette to say a prayer to Heavenly Father and that Heavenly Father always prepares a way for His children to do everything He commands of them. We are meeting with him tonight and will be teaching him the Law of Tithing. He’ll have his Baptismal Interview this week as well!

Cherrie is a former investigator who stopped meeting with the missionaries because she went online and found some anti-Mormon stuff about polygamy. We called her up, and at first, she was really nervous to meet with us again, but we followed up with her and emphasized the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We invited her to a YSA FHE and she said she felt so welcome and she really enjoyed it! She also attended church for all 3 hours today, and that was so great! She really enjoyed the Gospel Principles class! When we followed up with her this past week, we asked her how she was doing. She said “I am doing so good!” When we asked why, she said “Because I have been reading the Book of Mormon this week!” We were sooooo happy to hear that! We also set a baptismal date with her for April 16th!

This week, Sister Davis and I went to Taipei for a trainer-trainee follow up meeting. In that meeting, we met everyone in Sister Davis’ generation, as well as all of their trainers. Sister Davis was so happy to see everyone she was in the MTC with! In that meeting, we watched a video of a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and I think it’s called “Missionary Work and the Atonement”. It was so good! I love how every time Elder Holland speaks, he speaks with so much power. There was one part in particular that I really enjoyed. He was talking speaking about how missionary work shouldn’t be easy, because it was never ever easy for Jesus Christ. He was the perfect teacher, the PERFECT missionary, and yet, he was still rejected, spit upon, and crucified. There is one quote that he said which I love: “Missionary work isn’t easy because [emphasize the power in Elder Holland’s voice] Salvation is NOT a cheap experience.” This week was cold and rainy and wet. Friday, we had an appointment with Brother Zheng (Zheng Di Xiong). We were on our way to his appointment when all of a sudden there was a huge downpour. We were freezing from the wind that was blowing and ugh it was just not the ideal situation. But I reminded Sister Davis of the Elder Holland’s talk. We rode to the appointment yelling “SALVATION IS NOT A CHEAP EXPERIENCE! WE’RE COMING, ZHENG DI XIONG!” My scriptures and hymnbook are still drying. I’ve had a runny nose all weekend. But it was so worth it. Anything for Christ.

Now that Sister Hendricks moved into the Taipei West Zone, I get to see her all the time! I spent P-Day with her and we were talking and catching up on everything. Turns out she’s going to BYU as well! We were both hesitant to ask each other because I thought she was staying at BYU-I and she thought I was staying at BYU-I haha. But we are both going to Provo! We cried and jumped and hugged and it was marvelous. Then we got serious, and followed up with each other about how we’re feeling now that we are ending our missions. We both agreed that we feel like it’s about time. We’re ready to accept that fact that our service as a missionary will be over soon. We’re not trunky by any means, as we both know that we still have so much more to accomplish before April 22 hits. But we know that Heavenly Father has a calling prepared for us on our hometowns, and we can’t accomplish that in Taiwan. It was really good to talk to her. We started the mission at the MTC together as companions and we’re ending strong together in the same zone. I’m ready for it all! For the next 3 weeks, for all the miracles we’ll see, for all the sweat we’ll sweat, and for all the lives we’ll change. I love being a missionary.

I feel like my title for this email is super duper lame, but it pretty much describes how whitewashing an area is going: AWESOME!

At first it seemed totally impossible. When Sister Davis and I first got to this area, we had absolutely no one to teach. We didn’t have any desks, or an area book, NOTHING! On top of that, Sister Davis is a brand new missionary, and training is not the easiest thing to do, let’s be real. BUT this week proved to us that when we trust in the Lord, and I mean COMPLETELY trust in Him, everything will work out, and we will see miracles. And we have!

Zhang Hong Zhi 張閎智 is our most progressing investigator. He is SO awesome! We have taught him the first 3 lessons, and we give him passages in the Book of Mormon to read, and guess what, HE’S ACTUALLY BEEN READING THEM! And he prays before he reads! It is amazing to see him progress spiritually! We started teaching him Lesson 4, which includes all of God’s commandments, and we were really nervous for our lesson with him this week because we know he has a Word of Wisdom problem. He’ll smoke outside the church after our lessons with him, and he brought a bottle of black tea to church once. We knew that if he could trust Heavenly Father and have faith in Jesus Christ, he would be able to quit drinking tea and smoking, and to become clean of physical harm. The day of his Word of Wisdom lesson, we got to the church a bit early, and our member who would be joining our lesson comes up a bit later and tells us that Brother Zhang is outside…smoking a cigarette. “Perfect!” we thought haha. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and Follow the Prophet, and really focused on how we receive these commandments from God through a prophet. Made sure it was clear that these commandments are given to us not to restrain us from doing what we want to do, rather it does the opposite. We are given these commandments to that we may have freedom. If we don’t drink alcohol, we’ll never being an alcoholic, and if we don’t smoke, we will never be addicted to tobacco. We ended the lesson by showing him last year’s Easter Video “Because He Lives”. It was such a spiritual lesson, and it you could really feel him come to a realization that these commandments really to help us. He accepted it so well! At the end of the lesson, he pulled out his baptismal planner and we scheduled the days we were going to meet with him this week! BAHHHH I AM SO EXCITED FOR HIM TO BE BAPTIZED! Oh, and he also brought another bottle of Black Tea to the lesson, and I asked him to give it to me. He did so willingly! We had a pretty good laugh about it!

During companionship study this week, I asked Sister Davis what she wanted to improve on her teaching skills. She said she is having a really hard time asking inspired questions from Heavenly Father. Asking inspired questions is so essential in teaching the gospel. We can teach the doctrine, we can bear our testimonies, and all of that is great. But if that is all we do, it is impossible for us to know exactly how an investigator feels about when we are teaching them. So asking questions that require more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, is key to understanding our investigator’s needs. We decided we could to a role play, and teach a simple principle: the message that God is Our Loving Heavenly Father. We role played , me playing the missionary and Sister Davis playing the investigator, so I could give an example of what kinds of inspired questions she could ask. After the role play Sister Davis was overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy. “That was the perfect inspired question, and I can’t even think of one in English, let alone ask a question in Chinese!” In my mind I was thinking, “Aha, this is a great teaching moment!” I explained to her that we are not here just to ask questions to get the investigator talking. But these questions are called inspired questions for a reason. These questions do not come from us. These are questions that are inspired from Heavenly Father. So we did a re-practice, where Sister Davis played the missionary and asked me an inspired question. I told her to not think beforehand what question she wants to ask, because if she did that, the question would have come from her. It may have been a good question, but we are looking for questions that will inspire these people. I told her just to start teaching me about Heavenly Father, and trust that he will prepare a question that I (the investigator) needs to hear. During the roleplay, she asked me such an amazing question, that it even got me to thinking what Heavenly Father really means to me. I know that the question she asked was inspired, and came directly from Heavenly Father. He will NOT leave us all alone to do is work. He will support us in all that we do, but ONLY if we TRUST him.

There HAS to be a funny Sister Davis greenie story in this email somewhere! I have been letting Sister Davis hold the phone in order for her to take on responsibility in speaking with people over the phone in Mandarin. I was talking to one of our recent converts, and our phone rang. It was one of our investigators who we were meeting with for the first time (we’ve never met her before) and I told Sister Davis she could take it. I continue talking to our RC while Sister Davis talks on the phone. Later I asked what the call was about…

Sister Davis: “Sister Dong wanted to know how she would know who we were and what we look like, and I told her my hair was ‘lu se’ (緑色). Does ‘lu se’ mean yellow?”

They closed down Tucheng (土城) A Sisters! So now it’s just Sister Davis and I in the apartment. We spent a lot of time cleaning up the records and making calls to the people that the other sisters have been working with. We also moved into to the nice study room and we have the nice soft beds now…with makes it much harder to get up in the morning…whoops haha. Sister Davis also each have our own bathroom now, so YAY! It’s not as fun without the other Sisters though, but it’s okay, we can use our time much more effectively now!

Second, and the BEST thing to EVER HAPPEN, is….SISTER HENDRICKS MOVED INTO OUR ZONE! I love her so much! She was my MTC comp, and will forever remain my true tongban (同班)! She moved into the XinBan (新皮板) ward, which meets in the same chapel as us. I saw her yesterday and I was just so giddy and excited! We have never served in the same zone ever. She was born in central Taipei, and I was born in the east coast. Then she became STL of the east coast, when I became STL of central Taipei. But now we are both in the West Taipei zone and for our last transfer too! HAPPY ARE WE!

We had so many miracles with our investigators attending church! Brother Zheng came with is little girl again! Last time he didn’t stay for long, because his little girl, Wenwen, wasn’t used to the environment and wouldn’t stay still. This time, she sat through almost ALL of sacrament meeting! Brother Zheng took her to Primary, and she was really shy at first, but then she got used to the surroundings and started playing with the other little kids! Brother Zheng looked so happy because Wenwen was happy. The best part about was they stayed over an after church because Wenwen was playing with her new friend, and Brother Zheng was talking to Brother Chen, who is in the Elders Quorum presidency. It’s amazing how comfortable your investigators feel when members really care for them and make them feel at home!

Brother Zhang also came to church, and we had a lesson with him afterwards. We shared about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we invited him to Endure to the End, by always CPRing (church, pray, read), he said “aren’t I already doing all of that?” Yes, yes he is. I can’t wait until he gets baptized next month!

I am so determined to finish my mission strong. I don’t want ‘trunky’ to be in my vocabulary. I am here to be the best example for Sister Davis and to use every ounce of spiritual and physical energy this last transfer. I LOVE MY MISSION.

Love,

Sister Good

—

顧姐妹

We went on this awesome hike in DaZhi (大直) with the Xindian (新店) missionaries!

Crying because of Elder Robinson and Elder Reintjes in the back!!!

They didn’t make the stoplight in time so we took a disobedient picture of a sister between two elders hahahahaa!

We are the hunxue district (混血地區)! We tried to be cool. All four of our moms are Taiwanese, and our Dads are white/european. This is my clique.

We had an awesome photoshoot after district meeting

Polka dot twinsies!!

I love this picture. Elder Atwood and Elder Bellingham were on exchanges and Elder Bellingham is contacting a person on the street while Elder Atwood stares off into space because he had a day left in his mission at this point #trunky

Me and Ye Zi, who is starting her mission papers soon!!!!

Sister Zhong and I matching!

Members from Taidong came to visit me before I went home! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

This is Sister Chen, she got baptized about 2 months ago, and will be going into surgery which will require a lengthy recovery. Pray for her please!

She is the cutest!

Sister Davis and I, SOAKED from the rain!

A member from Xinan came and visit me too! She hand painted this minion on the shirt! SHE IS SO TALENTED!

Sorry my emails keep getting shorter and shorter, but this week was a great and amazing spirit filled week!

The West Taipei Stake had their stake conference and we all went to Jinhua Chapel to have our meetings. Our investigator Brother Zheng showed up, which was a HUGE miracle because it’s normally really hard for him to show up to our chapel near his home! He really liked it and has really good feeling when he attends church. We introduced him to President Jergensen, hoping that he would rub off some of his spirituality off onto Brother Zheng haha.

We also had a fireside for New Members at the Jinhua chapel that night. Our other investigator, Brother Wu, came and it was great for him to hear the testimonies of all the recent converts. At the end of the fireside, President invited all of the missionaries to go up and sing the Taiwan Taipei Mission song: “Truth Reflects Upon Our Senses” #174 in the Chinese Hymnal. Let me tell you, whenever the missionaries sing that song, we don’t just sing the song, we SING that song. We sing so loud and it always brings the spirit to the point that all of us tear up. There were an extra amount of tears that day because of transfers and the missionaries that are finishing up their missions are all going home! It’s hard to believe that the sisters that are going home this transfer were in the MTC with me. TIME JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Anyway, it was awesome to spend the weekend in Taipei, I got to see so many of the people from the previous areas I served in! I LOVE THE TAIWAN TAIPEI MISSION.

—

顧姐妹

We did pottery last P-day!

It was a fun little trip to Yingge

Saw this sign…

I ran in to Brother Luo! He was my teacher in the MTC! He has the BEST CONVERSION STORY.

I don’t have much time today, because I was distracted by the notification that I GOT ACCEPTED TO BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY IN PROVO! So I have been freaking out for the past few moments and my hands are shaking from excitement! Please excuse the typos that will follow…

Last week, Sister Davis and I contacted three high school students, two of which seemed pretty interested in the message, and the other was not. When we called them to confirm the appointment we set with them, the two that were interested said they could meet, and the one that wasn’t hung up on us. When that happened, I was so afraid the 3rd student was going to convince them to stand us up. But they didn’t they all came and we were able to teach them the Plan of Salvation! It was a really cool, and the first 2 students were so amazed especially by the Atonement part. But students in Taiwan are so busy doing school work. They take tests every single day, and their parents pay for extra tutoring sessions pretty much every single day after school. All they do is study and they never see the light outside. We weren’t able to set up a following appointment with them because they are preparing for midterms. I don’t know if we will be meeting with them within the next few weeks, hopefully we will, but if we don’t I can totally imagine the two that were interested having a memory of meeting with us, and they’ll be reminded of it when they are out of high school and on their own. No one can harvest anything without first planting the seeds.

I hit my year mark in Taiwan. I repeat, I hit my year mark in Taiwan! It’s officially been over a year since I’ve been in America! TIME FLIES SO FAST.

Love y’all!

—

顧姐妹

Last P-Day we went to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and bought some fish food to feed the fish, but the birds seemed much more interested in eating the food!

Me feeding the birds!

My cute offspring feeding the birds!

The amas (阿公) and agongs (阿媽) doing exercises!

We did temple tours this week and this investigator walks in and tells us that she’s done a tour at Temple Square in Salt Lake City! She is so awesome and wanted to learn more about the restoration. She is so cute!

I ran into WuAiFei (巫嬡霏), the cutest little girl from my last area in SongShan (松山)!

I also ran in to Sister Lin, my companion in Taoyuan桃園! She completed her mission last transfer!

Our awesome apostasy 比喻 parable.

After Jesus Christ was crucified, many churches were created.

But then Joseph Smith restored the gospel and the life was good and we got our cup tower back! #WHOALLA!

We made curry this week!!!

I love curry, can you tell?

I also love rain, can you tell?

This is the view from our apartment on a nice clear day! You can see Taipei 101 in the back!

Last Wednesday was Temple Day and I LOVED having the opportunity to go and receive revelation from Heavenly Father. That day also happened to be the Taizhong (台中) mission’s temple day, and I got to see a lot of the missionaries that I was in the MTC with! They only go once a year, and we get to go once every other transfer. I am so lucky to serve in a mission with a temple! It makes me wish that I went to the temple more before the mission when I could go whenever I wanted. But I will still have that opportunity! I LOVE TEMPLES SO MUCH!

Since Sister Davis and I got to Tucheng (土城), we haven’t had the sufficient materials for effective studies in the morning. We started out with no area book, no chairs to sit on, no desks to sit at, and no whiteboard to keep track of our investigators with. For the past 3 weeks, Sister Davis and I have been studying on couches and writing the names of the people we meet on sticky notes and it looked totally unorganized. BUT, our supplies FINALLY CAME! We can finally be organized and study at desks and to things more effectively now!

Last week, Sister Davis and I bought groceries and on our way back home, SHE GOT LOST! There was a turn that she didn’t see me make or something, so I was waiting for her at this stoplight and she just wasn’t showing up. I went back and retraced my steps all the way back to the grocery store and I couldn’t find her. Mind you, we use bicycles as a mode of transportation. So when we buy groceries, we have to carry huge backs of food on our handlebars. It’s always a fun experience buy groceries every week! But I remembered that I had a feeling to give her the phone this time, and when I remembered that, I rode back to our apartment complex and asked our security guard to borrow a phone. A frightened Sister Davis answered the phone and said “Wei?” I asked her where she was and she said “I don’t know…I’m lost!” “Sister Davis, don’t panic, just try to talk to someone walking past you on the street and give them the phone so I can find out where you are.” The man on the phone told me the address she was at, and it was wayyyyy down past the grocery store. Poor Sister Davis. We had a really good laugh about it afterwards haha!

This morning, we were on our way to eat breakfast with our Zone Leaders because Sister Lu got her visa and is leaving us to go to Temple Square! Anyway, we were at the place we planned to meet the Elders at, and Sister Davis fell off her bike after hitting a curb. Elder Roe and Elder Bellingham come running asking if everyone is okay. Elder Roe: “I heard a loud thump and then a girls screaming like ‘ahhhhh!’, and then I was like ‘well, the sisters are here!’” hahaa. Sister Davis scraped her knee pretty bad and it started bleeding. I tried to cheer her up so I showed her the scars I have on both of my knees: one from falling off my bike in the 3rd grade, and the other from falling over while playing missionary tag at mutual in 9th grade. “See, Sister Davis? You have a battle wound! So cool!” After a while of pouring water on it and dabbing it with napkins, Sister Davis lights up and says “I can use my Iron Man band-aids!” -She’s a trooper!

Sister Lu just left for America today! She has been waiting for her visa since November, so she had a full 12 weeks of training. But now she can finally go to the MTC, to the mission that she was assigned to! She is so excited because she has never been to America before. I told her that I’ll visit her and take her out on her P-days if she does a sweet tour for me when I go to Salt Lake. I remember when I found out I got my visa, I was so sad to leave Colorado, but so excited to get the heck out of there and go on to Taiwan. That was forever ago. And now I only have 8 weeks left on my mission. I don’t really know what to think of it…

We had a lot of appointments fall through this week, but good thing we always have backup plans! We had a particular appointment fall through and our backup was to find around that area. So, that’s what we did, and we found 3 new investigators in 10 minutes! We talked to a group of friends walking together, had a group prayer with them, and they all set up for Friday! That was a huge miracle, and it shows that sometimes when things work out, it’s because Heavenly Father has something better in store for the future!

Love y’all!

Sister Good

—

顧姐妹

Us roomies at the temple last week!

Getting ready for Sister Maxwell’s birthday surprise!

Sister Lu got her visa and is heading to Temple Square…we all got up and had breakfast with Elder Roe and Elder Bellingham to send her off 😦

Last Monday, Sister Davis and I went to this AWESOME Frozen exhibit in Taipei…it was right on the square of the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall! It was so beautiful, and I cried all through it because it was Disney and Elsa and Anna and Olaf and I felt like a kid and I love it! The exhibit went through the entire movie, and when Elsa froze everything, we went into this section of the exhibit where they have a whole bunch of real ice sculptures and just BAHHHH last P-day was the BOMB.

BUT, this P-day will be even better, because it is temple day! WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE! (That is why we are having P-day on Wednesday).

Chinese New Year was this past week, and I was so excited to finally spend Chinese New Year in Taiwan! Last year, I was still stuck in Colorado waiting on my visa. I got to Taiwan the week AFTER Chinese New Year! In Tucheng (土城), we had members feed is for lunch and dinner every single day! They kept encouraging us to eat more than we could fit into our stomachs and by the end of the new year, we just all got really sick of food (which is weird, because that has never happened to me before haha) but it was so great. I think the best part about Chinese New Year was that Sister Davis and I got a really great chance to meet the members here. We really needed that since we are both new to the area. It has been such a blessing!

Sister Davis is starting to get used to Taiwan! I have a few funny stories I would like to share with y’all…

Usually Sister Davis doesn’t say word, especially during dinner appointments because all of us missionaries have a lot of experience in Taiwan, and we are all speaking in this foreign language that she has a hard time understanding. BUT this week, there was a YSA who invited us over to his house and there happened to be an awkward silence in the middle of dinner. Then we hear a timid “你喜歡做什麽?” (What do you like to do?) and all of us missionaries looked at each other and our eyes got so wide because we were in shock that Sister Davis said something haha. We all applauded for her. Then Elder Roe said “Sister Davis, I totally had faith in you this whole time!” She is the cutest!

We were doing a roleplay on how to contact on the street, and Sister Davis said “我可以有你的健康嗎？” (Can I have your health?) instead of “我可以有你的電話？” (Can I have your number?) Good thing is was just a role play.

I had Sister Davis take the lead in finding this week, and we were evaluating how she was doing in the lessons, and we were laughing about a part where she contacted someone and it was a really funny experience (I’m sorry I don’t remember what was so funny) but she says to me “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I’m doing! I just know it’s true!” Oh my goodness she is seriously the best!

I love Sister Davis SO much!

We were contacting on Sunday night, it was really cold and super rainy, and Sister Davis contacted into Dominic. His English was perfect, so that was good for Sister Davis haha. But anyway, we asked him how he was and he was really bitter because it was Valentine’s Day and he didn’t have a girlfriend (that’s when I remembered that it was Valentine’s Day and realized that I am so out of the world haha). He was so bitter at the world by the way he talked, and we told him that we were misssionaries. He laughed and said that he doesn’t believe in God, because the one time that he prayed, God didn’t answer his prayer. I asked him what he prayed for, and he said “I prayed that God would kill me.” I was completely shocked by his answer. We got to know him a little bit more. His family left him, and he doesn’t know where they are, but they send him a lot of money every week, so he is very well off. He is addicted to drugs and alcohol and absolutely has not hope in life. He reminded me a lot of the man from the Mormon Message “A Hope of God’s Light” (go watch it, it is so good!). We testified of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and he just has a really hard time believing in it. He needs to watch that Mormon Message SO BAD, because it was literally MADE for him! But then he told us of an experience he had in Australia…”I was sitting on the curb of a street, and a homeless man comes up to me and asks for food and cigarettes. I go into the convenience store and buy him what he wanted. After I gave him what he asked for, he looks at me and said ‘Thank the Lord’“. He said to us, “I’m the one that bought him the food and cigarettes, God didn’t do anything! He didn’t do anything for the man, and he didn’t do anything for me!” I thought to the other Mormon Message “Patterns of Light” (I’m not sure it it’s part 1, 2, or 3) but David A. Bednar explains in there that any inclination that ANYONE has to do good, comes directly from God. Dominic doesn’t know it, but it was God that gave Dominic the feeling that he should help the homeless man.

After talking with him for a few minutes, we ask for his number, he gives it to us, and he walks away. Sister Davis and I walk back to our bikes and we said a prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father, thanking him for giving us the chance to meet Dominic. After we said amen, we see Dominic walking out of a convenient store. I called to him, and said “Bye, Dominic!” He yells back, “WAIT!” He come us up to us and hands Sister Davis and I each a new umbrella that he bought just barely. “It’s cold outside.” he said (there was a curse word in that sentence that I will not mention). God was working through Dominic again, to serve us this time.

I know that God lives, and that he has a part in our lives every second of every day. I know that he loves us and wants us to be happy. I know that God loves Dominic, so he led Sister Davis to talk to him that rainy Valentine’s Day night. And I know that he loves each and every one of you.

Have a great week y’all!

Sister Good

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顧姐妹

Sister Davis and I went to a Frozen exhibit that they were having at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall and I felt like I spent P-Day at Disney World!

Chinese New Year!

Our skirts got soaked in the rain!

Me being excited this morning because we are going to the temple today!

This week, Sister Davis and I went on exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders in Yonghe 永和! I was with Sister Giles, which was a great blessing because I can learn a lot from her. She trained twice, and both times she trained, she opened an area. SO it was definitely a HUGE blessing for Heavenly Father to have her as my Sister Training Leader. She gave me a lot of really good advice on what kind of trainer I need to be for Sister Davis, and how I can juggle opening and building an area all while I train. We also reminisced back to when we were serving together in Taidong, and how our mission has changed us. She finishes her mission this transfer, and me the next transfer. I loved my exchange with her.

On our exchange, we went to visit a family that they are teaching, the Hsiao Family 蕭家庭. They have an amazing story. Their oldest son, Kevin, was a foreign exchange student in Provo, Utah for a year, and he stayed with a Mormon host family there (I mean duh, is there anyone who isn’t Mormon that lives in Provo?) haha! But he absolutely loved it, and when he was almost done with his exchange, he promised his host family that he would meet with the missionaries when he gets back home. This host family has influenced Kevin and his family in Taiwan SO much, I walked in and they had a collection or trophies, and I saw that they bought an Angel Moroni and had it with their trophy collection. They also has a lot of magnets with LDS painting of Jesus Christ on their fridge. I asked Kevin what college he goes to, and he said he’s going to a college in America. I asked which on and he said I’m starting my first semester at Brigham Young University – Hawaii in March. WHAT? HE IS AN INVESTIGATOR AND HE IS GOING TO BYU-H. This family is so prepared for the gospel!

Sister Giles and I shared about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Hsiao Family. The mom had a lot of really good questions that were simple and really humble, like “How do you have so much faith?” We explained that we get faith my constantly exercising with CPR (Church, pray, read scriptures). It was truly an amazing lesson. The spirit filled the room as Sister Giles and I were bearing our witness and our testimony. I didn’t know if my body was shaking because it was so cold or because we were all filled with the Spirit. I think it was a bit of both, but mostly the spirit part. At the end of the lesson, we all got in a circle and had a kneeling family prayer. It reminded me of how my family would have a prayer every night before bed. Those are truly my favorite memories with the family. We always felt so much love for each other, at the end of the day, and it was so awesome to bring that into the Hsiao’s home.

Last week, Sister Davis and I were contacting, and we started talking to a Vietnamese lady selling baked sweet potatoes 烤地瓜 on the side of the road, Sister Tran. She is a Catholic, and she started talking to us about how her family is struggling financially. We said a prayer for her, but then she had some customers and we were going to be late for curfew, so we had to leave. During Weekly Planning, Sister Davis and I were praying about how we are supposed to get new investigators. Other than finding on the street, Sister Davis and I had a feeling we had to go visit Sister Tran again. We went back, and asked if we could set up a time to visit her home and teach her more about the Restored Gospel. She accepted and we went over to her house yesterday afternoon after church. We met her husband and her cute little 2 year old daughter, and they all sat down and listened to the message. The spirit was so strong, especially when I recited the First Vision from the Prophet Joseph Smith. We taught to much truth and they were really listening. We knew we had to put the focus on priesthood authority because they had a Christian background, and they got the gist of it. But when we invited them to baptism, they rejected the invitation, saying that they were already baptized in their church. So they didn’t really understand what priesthood was but that is okay, that is why we are here! By the end of the lesson, they invited us to go Vacation with them in Vietnam for a month haha! but we said we couldn’t. Then they invited us to stay for dinner, but we already had 2 dinner appointments because of Chinese New Year, so they just gave us a huge bag of Baked sweet potatoes. They are so cute! We gave them a Book of Mormon in Mandarin (her husband is Taiwanese) and we downloaded the Gospel Library app on her phone. When she saw that everything was in Vietnamese on the App, she was SO excited. SO SO SO excited!!! We love this family so much, and we can’t wait to teach them more truth, and help them gain a greater testimony of their Savior.

Speaking of the 2 dinners, WOW I am still full from last night! All it is here is food, food, and more food. One of our RC’s invited us over to her house high up in the mountains and we had dinner with their family of over 40 people. They were so excited to have Americans, we took like 45 minutes taking pictures, it was nuts haha! They were all joking and saying that whoever wants to marry an American, you can start the queue…which made us realize they were way to excited so we had to get out of there haha! It was still super fun, and we have a lot of new potential investigators!

This week, I have been pondering the simple principle of faith, the difference between “Heavenly Father CAN do this” and “Heavenly Father WILL do this”. There is a huge difference. I feel like for most of my mission, I’ve had the faith that Heavenly Father can do a lot of things, like provide the prepared for us to teach, or make sure that we are still alive at the end of the day. If you think “He can”, sometimes it prevents you from believing that He will. I think the big difference is that Heavenly Father will do things, but he will only make things happen through you. The difference is action on our part. If you know Heavenly Father will do something, that means that you are willing to act on the prompting that he gives you. I have seen so many miracle by applying this principle this week. I invited you to all believe that Heavenly Father WILL do things for you, through you!

Love y’all!

Sister Good

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顧姐妹

I took everyone to my last area in Xinyi and introduced them to Cronuts!

Fish tank at the bike shop near our house!

I went on exchanges to Yonghe 永和 with Sister Giles! We go way back to the MTC, and she goes home this transfer. The is THE BESTTTTT!

I also went on a mini exchange with Sister Luo to proselyte with members in the Zhonghe ward 中和支會 and it was super fun! We were at the Nanshijiao MRT station!

I made Sister Davis try the preserved Duck egg at a members’ house for Chinese New Year. Look at her so happy before she ate the egg!